I never make psychic bids. The only time I tried, it backfired horribly: my partner leapt to slam and we went for an unthinkable penalty. I decided there and then that psyching was best left to those with a real nose for it – not to mention nerves of steel. The art of psyching is,
Novice chess players can seem spellbound by the power of their own queen, zigzagging hither and thither in desperate search of bounty. You soon learn that on the chessboard strength is weakness and weakness is strength; the queen must flee from any attack while a pawn is, well, only a pawn in your game. Experienced
Silman-McFarland, Reno 1991. White is clearly in control. Which move did he play to decide the game? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 30 September. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last
In Competition No. 3318 you were invited to provide a verse portrait of Seamus Heaney by any other poet, living or dead. This challenge marks the tenth anniversary, last month, of Heaney’s death. Once asked if anything in his work struck him as appropriate as an epitaph, the Nobel Laureate quoted from his translation of
Each Across unclued light is associated in the same way with a Down one (one of two words). Across 1 In small conurbations, transport deficiencies (10) 7 Walk from Piraeus to Athens (4) 15 Huge resistance from masculine self-importance? I wonder (6) 18 PM’s residence about to receive first of rock stars
Flaubert said ‘You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies,’ while Voltaire, asked to renounce the devil on his deathbed, said ‘This is not the time for making new enemies.’ First prize P. and J. Chamberlain, Rushden, Northants Runners-up Tony Hankey, London W4; Willie Hamilton, Exeter
